People in many parts of the world sit under or carry canopies to protect them from the extremes of the weather. For instance, in sunny temperate climates, people often sit under beach umbrellas or carry portable parasols to protect them from the heat of the sun. In other portions of the world, people often carry umbrellas to protect them from precipitation. In either case, it is desirable to provide a ventilation stream of air flowing through the canopy to prevent the buildup of hot air under the canopy, blow away insects, and provide some relief from humidity.
Umbrellas including integral electric fans are known in the art to provide a ventilation air stream flowing through the umbrella. However, these prior art combination umbrellas and fan have been either too complex and costly to assemble, or inconvenient to operate.
One example of a conventional combination umbrella and fan is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 1,148,332 to Onyskow. The disclosed combination umbrella includes a two-part hollow umbrella rod joined by a rotatable fan hub assembly. A conventional umbrella canopy is supported by the upper half of the hollow rod. A motor and battery is housed within a hollow handle mounted to the lower end of the rod. A drive shaft extends from the motor, up through the lower half of the hollow rod, to drive rotation of the fan hub. This construction of a multi-component hollow rod with separate internal drive shaft renders the umbrella costly to produce, both in terms of material and labor. The umbrella also includes two fan blades which are hingedly connected to the fan hub assembly. To close the umbrella, the blades must first be manually folded upwardly against the umbrella rod prior to folding the canopy. This operation is unduly burdensome to many potential users.
Another example of a conventional umbrella and fan combination is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,177,881 to Covington. A motor is journaled on an intermediate umbrella rod section, which is joined between upper and lower rod sections. Two fan blades are pivotally secured to a rotatable housing that surrounds the motor. Batteries housed within the umbrella handle power the motor. Again, this multi-pieced rod construction is costly and complex to produce. The fan blades are biased by springs to a radially extended position for operation of the fan. When the canopy is collapsed, stays bear against the fan blades to overcome the biasing force of the springs and fold the blades downwardly against the umbrella rod. Thus, a user must exert sufficient force in closing the umbrella to overcome the force of the fan blade springs, which may prove difficult for frail users.